Jon Courtenay Grimwood
@joncg.bsky.social
Maltese born, Edinburgh novelist. ASD. Lapsed journalist. PhD St Andrews. Writes as Jonathan Grimwood, Jack G & Jon Courtenay G. Owns cat that’s a drug addict.
he/him
‘Triumphant…’ FT
http://jonathangrimwood.com
http://jackgrimwood.com
http://j-cg.co.uk
he/him
‘Triumphant…’ FT
http://jonathangrimwood.com
http://jackgrimwood.com
http://j-cg.co.uk
Reposted by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
November 25, 2025 at 9:26 AM
I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1
@endofthepier.bsky.social liked the LRB review for your book, and thought the whole piece quite good (you might have different opinions).
November 25, 2025 at 12:32 PM
@endofthepier.bsky.social liked the LRB review for your book, and thought the whole piece quite good (you might have different opinions).
Reposted by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Gibb; “ I had no editorial role whatsoever at the Jewish Chronicle”. Lee Harpin, reporter at the paper; “RG made a habit of calling into the office on print days to check up on what stories were topping the news list, and offering a view’”
November 24, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Gibb; “ I had no editorial role whatsoever at the Jewish Chronicle”. Lee Harpin, reporter at the paper; “RG made a habit of calling into the office on print days to check up on what stories were topping the news list, and offering a view’”
Reposted by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
I liked when they explained to boris Johnson what brexit would mean and he said oh god that is horrible you must strike a deal. They had to explain that was the deal
November 24, 2025 at 11:50 AM
I liked when they explained to boris Johnson what brexit would mean and he said oh god that is horrible you must strike a deal. They had to explain that was the deal
An absolute inability to do anything else except walk around cities at night, and I didn't have the qualifications to be a werewolf or the right clothes to be a mugger.
November 23, 2025 at 10:17 AM
An absolute inability to do anything else except walk around cities at night, and I didn't have the qualifications to be a werewolf or the right clothes to be a mugger.
Reposted by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
November 21, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Almost a year now since I received this absolutely classic burn from the Canadian government.
Reposted by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Farage can now be easily boxed in to a corner where his only ‘defence’ becomes: “Yes I spouted Kremlin propaganda & Putin worship but, unlike Nathan Gill, I didn’t need bribes to do it.”
It is, once again, a question of whether interviewers have the temerity to shut down his whining obfuscations.
It is, once again, a question of whether interviewers have the temerity to shut down his whining obfuscations.
November 22, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Farage can now be easily boxed in to a corner where his only ‘defence’ becomes: “Yes I spouted Kremlin propaganda & Putin worship but, unlike Nathan Gill, I didn’t need bribes to do it.”
It is, once again, a question of whether interviewers have the temerity to shut down his whining obfuscations.
It is, once again, a question of whether interviewers have the temerity to shut down his whining obfuscations.
Reposted by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
We need your help.
@waterstones.bsky.social, without any direct communication with us, will be opening their 6th Edinburgh branch less than 100 metres from our front door at the Foot of the Walk in Leith.
Please read on for more information
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
(1/2)
@waterstones.bsky.social, without any direct communication with us, will be opening their 6th Edinburgh branch less than 100 metres from our front door at the Foot of the Walk in Leith.
Please read on for more information
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
(1/2)
Anger as Waterstones snaps up prime site on doorstep of independent bookshop
UK's biggest bookselling chain under fire over plans for new store beside Edinburgh tram line.
www.heraldscotland.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:28 AM
We need your help.
@waterstones.bsky.social, without any direct communication with us, will be opening their 6th Edinburgh branch less than 100 metres from our front door at the Foot of the Walk in Leith.
Please read on for more information
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
(1/2)
@waterstones.bsky.social, without any direct communication with us, will be opening their 6th Edinburgh branch less than 100 metres from our front door at the Foot of the Walk in Leith.
Please read on for more information
www.heraldscotland.com/news/2562908...
(1/2)
Agree with all of this.
But I'd still have failed because I use, and have used, em dashes for decades, and I'd probably have written the essay from a Marxist perspective, being of that age...!
But I'd still have failed because I use, and have used, em dashes for decades, and I'd probably have written the essay from a Marxist perspective, being of that age...!
To “my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.”
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...
I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking.
"Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."
www.huffpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Agree with all of this.
But I'd still have failed because I use, and have used, em dashes for decades, and I'd probably have written the essay from a Marxist perspective, being of that age...!
But I'd still have failed because I use, and have used, em dashes for decades, and I'd probably have written the essay from a Marxist perspective, being of that age...!
'industrial-grade Cartesian pineal-gland bollocks...'
Prof Roberts on Avatar Has A Bath, or whatever the SFX rich, plot poor second instalment was called.
Prof Roberts on Avatar Has A Bath, or whatever the SFX rich, plot poor second instalment was called.
Much as Stevens declared that the only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream, I say the only critic is the critic of monstrously trivial nit-pickery.
profadamroberts.substack.com/p/avatar-no-...
profadamroberts.substack.com/p/avatar-no-...
‘Avatar?’ ‘No Thanks, I'm Trying To Give Them Up’
The Pandoran Joe Pasquale Problematic
profadamroberts.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 9:51 AM
'industrial-grade Cartesian pineal-gland bollocks...'
Prof Roberts on Avatar Has A Bath, or whatever the SFX rich, plot poor second instalment was called.
Prof Roberts on Avatar Has A Bath, or whatever the SFX rich, plot poor second instalment was called.
Reposted by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Listening to Steve Reed explain on the radio today that he can't say what Mahmood's plan means for kids of people who give birth after they've been granted asylum because that's a hypothetical Q govt can't be expected to answer right now made me think these reforms are going to unravel quite fast
November 18, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Listening to Steve Reed explain on the radio today that he can't say what Mahmood's plan means for kids of people who give birth after they've been granted asylum because that's a hypothetical Q govt can't be expected to answer right now made me think these reforms are going to unravel quite fast
Reposted by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
If you can access BBC iPlayer, I recommend watching the Val McDermid In Her Own Words documentary as soon as you possibly can. However well you think you know Val and her work, you will learn things that astonish you.
November 15, 2025 at 8:59 PM
If you can access BBC iPlayer, I recommend watching the Val McDermid In Her Own Words documentary as soon as you possibly can. However well you think you know Val and her work, you will learn things that astonish you.
'Imposters posing as No 10 staff,' is possibly accurate, if not quite in the way No. 10 mean...
November 13, 2025 at 6:11 PM
'Imposters posing as No 10 staff,' is possibly accurate, if not quite in the way No. 10 mean...
Pretty certain there's a vat grown clone of Bond in some fragile trillionaire super villain's lab just waiting to be be awakened. Either that, or Q's been working on this for the best part of a decade, and just forgot to mention it earlier.
November 11, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Pretty certain there's a vat grown clone of Bond in some fragile trillionaire super villain's lab just waiting to be be awakened. Either that, or Q's been working on this for the best part of a decade, and just forgot to mention it earlier.
Not the result we wanted, or frankly deserved, but less grim than it could have been...
ScovNzl
ScovNzl
November 8, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Not the result we wanted, or frankly deserved, but less grim than it could have been...
ScovNzl
ScovNzl
Having failed to turn lead to gold, Alchemist John Damian promised James IV fly from Stirling to France (and had to be scooped up off the turf below the castle walls).
I feel an equivalent is the least the OpenAI board can do.
I feel an equivalent is the least the OpenAI board can do.
November 6, 2025 at 10:39 AM
Having failed to turn lead to gold, Alchemist John Damian promised James IV fly from Stirling to France (and had to be scooped up off the turf below the castle walls).
I feel an equivalent is the least the OpenAI board can do.
I feel an equivalent is the least the OpenAI board can do.
Reposted by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
For reference this wasn't a guest or a correspondent, this was the anchor, Emma Barnett.
November 5, 2025 at 8:47 AM
For reference this wasn't a guest or a correspondent, this was the anchor, Emma Barnett.
Reposted by Jon Courtenay Grimwood
BBC Radio 4 this morning joined Trump in describing Zohran Mamdani as a "radical leftist".
November 5, 2025 at 8:39 AM
BBC Radio 4 this morning joined Trump in describing Zohran Mamdani as a "radical leftist".
Hive mind: Is a 160,000 word novel still viable for the bigger publishers - or are we now firmly in the world of small, perfectly formed, etc? (Which I'm obviously also happy with!)
November 3, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Hive mind: Is a 160,000 word novel still viable for the bigger publishers - or are we now firmly in the world of small, perfectly formed, etc? (Which I'm obviously also happy with!)
Containing perhaps the best press conference you will ever see...
Great news - one of the best mini-series ever with a dazzling & eccentric screenplay by Troy Kennedy Martin & superb direction by Martin Campbell is back on iplayer.
If you haven’t seen it then you’re in for a real treat.
Come for Bob Peck, stay for Joe Don Baker.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
If you haven’t seen it then you’re in for a real treat.
Come for Bob Peck, stay for Joe Don Baker.
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...
Edge of Darkness - Series 1: 1. Compassionate Leave
Thriller set in a world of obsessive state security. Ronald Craven is haunted by the murder of his daughter and begins his own investigation into her death.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 1, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Containing perhaps the best press conference you will ever see...
It was also astonishing the number of tribes that Columbus suddenly 'discovered' to be practising cannibalism, after Queen Isabella announced this would be reason enough for enslaving them.
The US government is packed from top to bottom with racist violent settlers since they first washed ashore.
October 30, 2025 at 8:43 PM
It was also astonishing the number of tribes that Columbus suddenly 'discovered' to be practising cannibalism, after Queen Isabella announced this would be reason enough for enslaving them.
Not sure whether it's sweet or appalling that the UK press have managed to convince themselves that it's a one bad apple thing...
October 30, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Not sure whether it's sweet or appalling that the UK press have managed to convince themselves that it's a one bad apple thing...